We don’t need no education... or apples?
Many teachers are into rock. For proof of this you only have to look at the 2003 film 'School Of Rock' starring Jack Black. On the flip side many rock stars have started out on the path of rock ‘n’ roll glory by originally being teachers. Brian May famously left his PHD in Astrophysics to play guitar for Queen, only to come back full circle and complete it in 2007, going on to author a number of books on the subject and to work with NASA. Sting was an English Teacher and football coach, Mark Knopfler was a lecturer at Epping Forest College. Sheryl Crow before lending her backing vocal skills to stars like Don Henley, Belinda Carlisle and Stevie Wonder, taught elementry school music. Gene Simmons of Kiss hilariously decided that he would change the syllabus of reading the works of Shakespeare for the primary school children he was teaching to studying Spider man comics instead. It got him fired but he thought they would gain more out of reading the comics!
The 'Apple' is a constant reappearing symbol in the music industry; Fiona Apple, Apple Music, Apple the 1968 psychedelic Welsh rock band...there is even a giant apple on the cover of Jeff Beck's classic 1969 Beck-Ola LP and on Whitesnake's 1981 'Come An' Get It' album, all be it with a snake inside it!
The humble apple is traditionally given from student to teacher at the end of each term as a way of saying thank you. After all a great teacher can change a student's life forever. But wait, is there more of a subtext? Sub-conciously does apple gifting trigger teacher's minds, sending messages to their brains that 'The Beatles' back catalogue is always on re-issue and could be their listening pleasure for the next six weeks of school summer holidays..?. are ‘Apples’ the music industry's own ‘Catcher In The Rye’...? likely? Hmmm not really. In fact, about as likely as the 1966 ‘Paul McCartney is dead’ conspiracy theory. But it’s nice to go off on a tangent now and again. In 1939 Bing Crosby recorded the song 'An Apple For The Teacher' which helped to perpetuate the idea of the fruit as gifts for teacher. The giving of apples actually has it’s roots in a number of theories, The biblical 'Garden Of Eden' and the 'Apple of Knowledge' could be one of them or perhaps that In 1700’s Denmark and Sweden, if you were poor often a basket of apples would be given as payment for your child's education. Or maybe it was the upsurge in public health and hygiene with the slogan ‘An Apple A Day’ at the end of the 19th century... quite frankly, though why bother with apples at all these days, leave them in your fruit bowl! Lion Rock Art are offering this much better alternative, a superb t-shirt celebrating Teachers and the wonderful work they do, it’s the perfect end of year gift, a great way to show your Teacher just how much they rock and no pips!
With a wonderful homage to James Hetfield’s Metallica logo (did Hetfield ever give his teacher an Apple?) ‘The My Teacher Rocks’ t-shirt is a real winner with a fantastic design by Lion Rock Art ‘s top Creative designer Nikkie Amouyal, Lion Rock Art are offering some superb gift ideas for the holiday period.
Anyway lets leave the final word to the legendary Alice Cooper, also known to work as a substitute religious studies teacher from time to time, who once said “Schools Out For Summer!” Rock on!
Anyway lets leave the final word to the legendary Alice Cooper, also known to work as a substitute religious studies teacher from time to time, who once said “Schools Out For Summer!” Rock on!
Links to Lion Rock Art's fantastic website:
